Date:04/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/12/04/stories/2005120418460300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Two officials of BMP trapped

Staff Reporter

Lokayukta police caught them while they were accepting money

BANGALORE: Lokayukta sleuths on Saturday trapped a medical officer and a health inspector of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike on the charge of demanding and accepting Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 2,000 respectively from a private contractor involved in collecting garbage.

According to the Lokayukta police, D. Chandrashekar, Medical Officer (Health) of Bharatinagar Range, and K. Ramanathan, Health Inspector of Indiranagar ward, were regularly accepting Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 2,000 as "mamool" from Mr. Nagaraj, the private contractor. Mr. Nagaraj was paying this amount for allowing collection of garbage of hotels and commercial establishments in Indiranagar ward.

As Mr. Nagaraj had failed to give the money for the past two months, the two BMP officials had threatened to stop the garbage collection. This made Mr. Nagaraj to pay Rs. 5,000 to Dr. Chandrashekar on Tuesday. On Saturday he was asked to bring the "mamool" of Rs. 10,000 to the Bharatinagar Range office.

On a complaint by Mr. Nagaraj, the Lokayukta sleuths laid a trap. Dr. Chandrashekar and Mr. Ramanathan were caught while allegedly accepting Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 2,000 respectively. Dr. Chandrashekar and Mr. Ramanathan were also found possessing additional cash of Rs. 13,850 and Rs. 10,650 respectively, Superintendent of Police (Lokayukta) G. Ramesh said. The Lokayukta police have registered cases against the officials under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

When the two BMP officials were produced before Lokayukta N. Venkatachala, Dr. Chandrashekar said that the additional money that he was holding was a monthly instalment that he had to pay towards a loan. He admitted his mistake of not declaring the amount before starting the day's work. Mr. Ramanathan said the money he was holding was supposed to be used for a function in his house.